Students urge hike in education budget

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: Hundreds of Mulawarman University students held a rally on Monday here, demanding that the local government allocate a greater budget for education.

The students said the provincial administration had allocated only Rp 2.6 billion of the Rp 3 trillion 2004 provincial budget toward education, or only 0.087 percent.

Abdul Rachim, chairman of the Mulawarman Student Executive Body and the coordinator of the protest, alleged that the East Kalimantan government had violated the Constitution, which stipulates a minimum 20 percent allocation of the budget for education. -- JP